The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher

Julian Baggini

Penguin, Jun 27, 2006 - Philosophy - 320 pages

Perfect for gifting to lovers of philosophy or mining intelligent ice-breaker topics for your next party, The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten offers one hundred philosophical puzzles that stimulate thought on a host of moral, social, and personal dilemmas. Taking examples from sources as diverse as Plato and Steven Spielberg, author Julian Baggini presents abstract philosophical issues in concrete terms, suggesting possible solutions while encouraging readers to draw their own conclusions:

Lively, clever, and thought-provoking, The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten is a portable feast for the mind that is sure to satisfy any intellectual appetite.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Paul_S - LibraryThing

It's like reading a table of contents. An interesting table of contents but I can't help thinking it would be worthwhile if the author went into some more detail, maybe researching what other ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Beholderess - LibraryThing

An interesting and thought-provoking exploration of ethics. Struggling with the examples - and with why I'd choose one course of action over the other - helped me to better understand my own position.

Contents

• The evil demon: 1
• Beam me up: 4
• The Indian and the ice: 7
• A byte on the side: 10
• The pig that wants to be eaten: 13
• Wheel of fortune: 16
• When no one wins: 19
• Good God: 22
• Bigger Brother: 25
• The veil of ignorance: 28
• The ship Theseus: 31
• Picasso on the beach: 34
• Black white and red all over: 37
• Bank error in your favour: 40
• Ordinary heroism: 43
• Racing tortoises: 46
• The torture option: 49
• Rationality demands: 52
• Bursting the soap bubble: 55
• Condemned to life: 58
• Land of the Epiphens: 61
• The lifeboat: 64
• The beetle in the box: 67
• Squaring the circle: 70
• Buridans an ass: 73
• Pains remains: 76
• Duties done: 79
• The nightmare scenario: 82
• Life dependency: 85
• Memories are made of this: 88
• Just so: 91
• Free Simone: 94
• The freespeech booth: 97
• Dont blame me: 100
• Last resort: 103
• Preemptive justice: 106
• Nature the artist: 109
• I am a brain: 112
• The Chinese Room: 115
• The rockinghorse winner: 118
• Getting the blues: 121
• Take the money and run: 124
• Future shock: 127
• Till death us do part: 130
• The invisible gardener: 133
• Amoebaesque: 136
• Rabbit: 139
• Evil genius: 142
• The hole in the sum of the parts: 145
• The good bribe: 148
• Living in a vat: 151
• More or less: 154
• Double trouble: 157
• The elusive I: 160
• Sustainable development: 163
• The total perspective vortex: 166
• Eating Tiddles: 169
• Divine command: 172
• The eyes have it: 175
• Do as I say not as I do: 178
• Mozzarella moon: 181
• I think therefore?: 184
• No know: 187
• Nipping the bud: 190
• Soul power: 193
• The forger: 196
• The poppadom paradox: 199
• Mad pain: 202
• The horror: 205
• An inspector calls: 208
• Life support: 211
• Free Percy: 214
• Being a bat: 217
• Water water everywhere: 220
• The ring of Gyges: 223
• Net head: 226
• The scapegoat: 229
• Gambling on God: 232
• A Clockwork Orange: 235
• Hearts and heads: 238
• Sense and sensibility: 241
• The freeloader: 244
• The golden rule: 247
• The pleasure principle: 250
• The nowhere man: 253
• Art for arts sake: 256
• Fair inequality: 259
• Total lack of recall: 262
• Kill and let die: 265
• Something we know not what: 268
• No one gets hurt: 271
• Autogovernment: 274
• Zombies: 277
• The Sorites tax: 280
• The problem of evil: 283
• Family first: 286
• Moral luck: 289
• The experience machine: 292
• Give peace a chance?: 295
• The Nest café: 298
• Index: 301

About the author

Julian Baggini is the editor of The Philosopher’s Magazine.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher
• Author: Julian Baggini
• Publisher: Penguin, 2006
• ISBN: 0452287448, 9780452287440
• Length: 320 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy; Philosophy / Good & Evil; Philosophy / Logic